Another Page Done

I've been thinking I need to have a goal or a challenge so I can keep motivated and do the projects I want to accomplish.  I could get snowed in for a month and still not get everything I have done but I would be closer than I am now. I decided that I'm going to challenge myself to do one page a week for one month.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot but I've got to start somewhere.  I usually get really excited and decide I'm going to "do this and do that", make a list a mile long and then get overwhelmed. What happens then is I only get one or two things done and quit.  I was told a long time ago that anyone can eat an elephant - one bite at a time.  My "elephant" is my projects so my "one bite at a time" is a page a week.  So here's the first page of my challenge. 

The older boy is by brother who is now grown with 3 boys of his own and the younger is my son who is now 29.  I'm somewhat behind on my pages.  What did I say about getting snowed in?  A long ago co-worker who I'd shown the pictures to after I developed them gave me the idea for the title.  When she saw the pictures, she made the comment "The boys look like they required presoaking."  When starting this page I remembered the comment and decided that would be my title. 

I used red and blue Co'ordination Vintage Collection cardstock and tan cardstock I had in my stash.  I distressed the mattings and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Fired Brick. What I did do that I've never done before was the brads.  I didn't have brads the color I wanted and I didn't want to go shopping for any since I'd end up buying more than just brads and take time away from my scrapbooking.  I remembered watching a video (I just love YouTube -- thank you to everyone who does wonderful demos - because of you I try more cool stuff.) about using Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks to dye metal. Alcohol Inks is another phase I'm in right now along with Copic Markers.  I took plain silver brads in the sizes I wanted and used the alcohol inks to dye them the colors I wanted. Now I'm really hooked.  I used Denim and Red Pepper and my brads turned out perfect. 

My scrapbook style is simple which is a good thing since I'm going to work on getting a page a week done. Now I've just got to decide on what to treat myself with when I meet my goal. That's one I'll have to think about.

Copic Markers

Last weekend I attended a Basic Copic Marker Class. I've been reading and watching videos about them for a long time but didn't know if I wanted to get "into" the markers. I'm not really into stamping, mostly because I'm not good at coloring.  I've tried stamping and used other markers but didn't get a good effect.  Color pencils worked pretty good for me. But I wanted to give Copic Markers a try for a different look so I went to a class.  Of course I fell in love with them!! I can't wait to take another class.  Here's my first project -- a birthday card for my grandson, Grayson. 

I only used two each of the blue, yellow and red colors for the balloons and gifts for blending - I colored the whole area with the lighter color then shadowed portions with the darker color. I used =  BG02 New Blue & BG05 Holiday Blue, Y15 Cadmium Yellow & Y17 Golden Yellow,  R35 Coral & R37 Camine. Start small then work larger, right?.  I really like the great way they blended, no streaks or "lines" where the darker color is. The saying is from the book "Ultimate Guide to Card Sayings".  It's a very basic card but a three year old won't care. I think I'll be using stamping and coloring more often on my scrapbook pages. I told my children the second portion of my life insurance is in my craft room. Now that I'm starting into the Copic Marker phase, that is even more true. Lol.

Catattidue -- My Girl

After several years I've finally been able to do a page of my cat that I had to put to sleep because she was ill from old age.  Squirt was 16 when I lost her. I had her since she was 6 weeks old. Or should I say she had me cause we all know that cats pick their people and she picked me.  Squirt would sleep beneath the covers tucked up under my chin. She loved popcorn and brussel sprouts. Squirt was somewhat overweight and when I would tease and call  her "Fat Cat" she would give me a look that said "Fat is where it's at." Squirt would let you know what she was thinking just with a look. She's been gone now just over 3 years but I still miss her a lot -- she always wanted to be with me.  I miss my constant companion.

Sunflower Quilt -- Finished!!

It's been a busy month for me so I've not gotten as much done as I'd like as quickly as I'd have liked. But that's how life is. But t this morning I got some creative inspiration and set to work.  So here's one of my projects I got done today.

Glimmer Mist

   Hurricane Irene has passed with no further problems. So today I did my errands and had to stop by the local scrapbook store. I'm behind on the "new stuff" curve and am just starting to play with Glimmer Mist. I'm working on scraping a 4th of July page and wanted to try something different. I saw an idea on Cricut website for the Word Collage cartridge and wanted to give a try. 

http://www.cricut.com/thursday/lookbookcart.aspx?Book=wordcollage 

   However, I wasn't very successful. What the picture showed was a flag background with chalked letters for 4th of July. I tried different ways to create a stencil - I used poster board then vinyl and just didn't work. The size I was trying to do may have a lot to do with that. I'll have to do some searching online to see how others manage this trick. I wanted the "negative" so I could chalk the words onto a background I made using Glimmer Mist.

   What I did instead was make my background with Glimmer Mist -- Red Velvet, Snow Queen and Bell Bottom Jeans. I sprayed onto white cardstock I had in my stash. I had gotten CRI-Kits Gel Pen Holder & Pens and decided to give them a try. Wow!! They worked great. I'll be using them on more of my projects. I did get all the colors available. 

   I think this looks pretty good considering it's not what I was trying to do. Sometimes what I end up with works better than what I was trying to create. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep trying to do the stencil idea.  I'm trying to decide if I'm going to do a 8 x 8 mini album or just a two page layout but I'll post my project when I'm finished.

What a Week!!

   This has been a hectic week. First an earthquake on Tuesday afternoon & lots of clean up when I got home from work. Then we had another smaller quake/aftershock on Wednesday night around 1am that woke me up.  And if that's not the highlight of the week, a hurricane hits today.  I've only lost electric once today. Sad to say that messed up the bread I was baking.  But all is not lost. I've used the day of being inside to do fun stuff.  
  
   I've been wanting to try cutting fabric with my Cricut. I made pj bottoms for the grandson that had trains on them and decided to make a tshirt with a train on it to match. I went on You Tube and watched a couple of videos (thanks to all who have posted their "how to") but even with that I had trouble. But I'm not one to give up easy so I kept trying.  Here's my results - I used Boys Will Be Boys for the train and calico fabric I had in my stash.

  I didn't think that the train showed up very good since the outline wasn't defined so I decided to put a blanket stitch around the train.



  I had some trouble with the fabric not cutting well and raveling. I used Wonder Under but a lightweight type. I'm going to try again with a heaver weight & see how that works.  I've got a Robot tshirt to make.

My Pages

I've been slowly working on my older pictures and getting them scrapped. I got a set of Perfect Pearls awhile ago and decided to give them a try.  I used the Perfect Medium and stamped hearts on the pink across the top. I then used Berry Twist Perfect Pearls - I wanted to create my own "pattern paper".  I think it turned out pretty good.  I also used Doodlebug glitter to give the LOVE stamp some glitz.  The cardstock and embellishments are some I had in my stash.  I used my Cricut to cut the green tag under the LOVE circle at the top of the page. You can't read my journaling - I used a pink sparkle gel pen. I wrote the quote "You're everything I never knew I always wanted." I had planned this page out a long time ago - I tend to scraplift or use sketches I find on-line a lot. Thank you to everyone who posts their sketches & ideas - you make my life so much easier. I have noticed my "style" of scrapbooking could be called basic but that seems to work for me. Although Kenny & I are no longer together,  he was in my life for over two years and a part of who I am now.  I wanted to celebrate that. I'm finding scrapbooking is a great way to heal.